Animation Programmer - Studio Elevation (Remote within the UK)

2K; United Kingdom; Remote; GBP 40,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading company in the VR gaming industry is seeking a passionate Animation Programmer to shape immersive experiences. You'll develop and maintain animation systems, collaborate with cross-disciplinary teams, and contribute to cutting-edge projects. This full-time role offers a competitive salary at a unique collaborative workplace.

Benefits

Flexible hours

Birthday off

Health insurance

Life cover

Qualifications

• Solid C++ programming skills.
• Understanding of animation principles.
• Experience with Unreal Engine, especially Animation Blueprints.

Responsibilities

• Assist in developing animation systems for VR gameplay.
• Collaborate with teams to integrate animations.
• Debug and resolve animation-related issues.

Skills

C++ programming

Animation systems knowledge

Problem-solving

Communication skills

Tools

Unreal Engine

Animation Blueprints

Control Rig

Job description

We’re looking for a passionate and capable Animation Programmer to join our team and help shape the future of immersive VR experiences. You’ll contribute to the development and refinement of animation systems that bring our characters and worlds to life. This is a great opportunity to work on cutting-edge projects in a collaborative and forward-thinking environment, where your work will directly impact the feel and fidelity of our games.

In this role, you’ll support the design, implementation, and maintenance of animation systems and tools in collaboration with animators and gameplay programmers. You’ll work closely with the design and art teams to ensure animations are responsive, and fluid while learning and contributing to innovations in procedural animation, IK systems, and runtime rigging.

The rundown:

• 12-month fixed term contract

• Full time (37.5 hours per week)

• Fully remote within the UK

• Salary is competitive and dependent on experience

Key responsibilities:

• Assist in developing and maintaining core animation systems for VR gameplay

• Collaborate with cross-disciplinary teams to integrate animations seamlessly

• Prototype and iterate on animation features and technologies

• Debug and resolve animation-related issues

• Contribute to animation tech documentation and planning

• Ensure code quality and maintainability

• Work with QA and production to meet quality and timeline expectations

• Stay up to date with new tools and techniques to improve animation workflows

Requirements

The skills you’ll need:

• Solid C++ programming skills and experience with animation systems in game engines

• Understanding of animation principles and real-time implementation

• Experience with Unreal Engine (especially Animation Blueprints and Control Rig)

• Awareness of VR development and performance considerations

• Strong problem-solving and communication skills

The nice to haves:

• Exposure to procedural or physics-based animation systems

• Interest in motion matching or machine learning in animation

• Experience contributing to a shipped commercial game

• Familiarity with animation middleware (e.g., Havok, HumanIK)

Benefits

We are nDreams – we develop and publish the world’s most immersive VR games. You may know us as the developer behind Synapse, Phantom: Covert Ops, Fracked, and Frenzies. As a publisher, we have also supported the release of other studio’s titles including Little Cities, PowerWash Simulator VR, and Vendetta Forever. With humble beginnings as an independent studio, we combine amazing projects with a personal, caring touch. We’ve got more incredible titles to be announced soon!

We believe the best workplaces and games are created by diverse, happy and safe teams. We're committed to building a culture centred on respect, wellbeing and balance. It's crucial we make our games and industry more accessible to underrepresented communities. We strive to live this through the people we hire, the experiences we create and the causes we support.

We want everyone to have the opportunity to bring their best, authentic self to work. Please let us know if you require reasonable adjustments during the interview process by emailing [e-mail] or speaking to your nDreams recruiter. For more information about reasonable adjustments, check out this guidance from Scope.

We offer great perks, including flexible hours, duvets days, your birthday off, dedicated personal development time and support, as well as regular socials. Beyond this, there’s an excellent holiday offering, pension scheme, health insurance, life cover and much more.